Excavations in France - archaeologists have found fragments of ancient Roman frescoes from the 1st century BC

Archaeologists have been looking for frescoes for four years in order to put them together later.

In the Provençal city of Arles, France, a team of archaeologists in one of the houses discovered historically valuable wall paintings from the 1st century BC, The Guardian reports.

Since the beginning of excavations, 800 boxes with fragments of wall paintings have been collected there.

This city has the House of the Harper, which was built between 70 and 50 BC by Italian craftsmen. It was built around a central atrium with a large pool to collect rainwater for the household. The building is considered an outstanding monument of ancient architecture and interior decoration.

There, ancient experts opened their workshop to showcase their skills and craftsmanship. They tried to piece together a huge mosaic of magnificent frescoes.

In total, since the beginning of excavations in April 2021, archaeologists have already collected 800 boxes with fragments of wall paintings, some of which were recovered from the excavated walls of the building, and the other part was found in ruins.

According to experts, to collect all the frescoes, which occupy more than 220 square meters, will have to work until at least 2023.

The most interesting thing is that fragments of a mosaic were found there, the size of which was no more than the length of the nail.

However, scientists also collected them, washed them and placed them in boxes, so that later they could see how they fit into the overall picture of the mosaic. In total, the specialists spent 1800 hours to sort out the parts, and this is not the end.

In addition, according to archaeologists, the House of Harpers was deliberately destroyed 20 years after its construction. A new building was built in its place, which has preserved a work of art. After that, three more houses were erected on the same site.

To begin excavating the site of this house, the team used a special camera to explore the basements. This is how they discovered the Harper’s House under the existing building.

The walls of one of the rooms in the villa appear to have been covered with a gallery of large figures, including a harpist and pedestals, and stood out against a bright red background.

Experts say that the decoration and large-scale depictions of figures, called intaglio, were discovered in Italy but are unknown in France.

The variety and exceptional quality of the decor give a unique insight into late Roman decorative styles, especially the wall paintings of the late Pompeii period.

In 2013, the first excavations took place, and more than a meter under the existing building, the Harper’s House was discovered.

For four years, archaeologists have been looking for frescoes and collecting fragments.

Now experts are putting the pieces together to show them in the museum.

Bidding for two bracelets of Marie Antoinette

The Christie’s auction house estimates that they could reach 3.7 million euros

A new challenge for connoisseurs of jewelry with opportunities – two diamond bracelets by Maria-Antoinette are sold at auction, organized by the auction house “Christie’s”, BTA reported.

The bidding is organized for November 9 in Geneva.

The preliminary estimate of the products is from 1.8 million to 3.7 million Euros.

“This price is determined not only by the value of the diamonds, but also by the ability to wear jewelry ordered personally by Queen Marie Antoinette,” said Marie-Cecil Sizamolo of Christie’s.

Each of the bracelets is inlaid with three rows of diamonds. The two can be combined in one necklace. The gems are between one and four carats. According to the auction house, the total diamonds of the two pieces of jewelry are between 140 and 150 carats. The bracelets will be sold in one lot. Of course, Christie’s expects the price of the jewelry to be exceeded many times over.

In 2018, a diamond pendant for a necklace by Marie Antoinette was put up for auction for 1.8 million euros, but reached 31.8 million euros.

The wife of King Louis XVI of France ordered the bracelets from the jeweler Charles Auguste Bomer in 1776 in Paris. Their price is 250 thousand pounds, which at that time was an extremely high amount.

Liberian FaithVonic artist fights pandemic through musical education

Faith Vonic is a 25 years old Afropop and “Hipco” (HipHop) Female Artist born and raised in Liberia, West Africa. She started singing at the age of 10 at her school and covering various musical artist on her YouTube channel. In 2012, she began writing and producing her own records, and officially began her journey as a dynamic cutting edge Artist within the Liberian music industry. Her distinct sound and knack for creativity and pushing the envelope has made Faithvonic a force to be reckoned with, rising to the top of the music industry.

Faith was raised by a single mother in Liberia, with challenging circumstances including being a survivor of SGBV and mental abuse at a young age. Music became faith coping/ escape mechanism during her childhood, and she utilized her music as the medium to communicate and express her experiences, feelings, and thoughts with the intention to help and inspire other young girls who may have been in similar situations. Through the confidence brought by her music and talent, she decided to turn her passion into a career.

Faith stage name was inspired by both a combination from her first name and mother’s name; as she applauds her mother’s strength as a driving force behind her music journey. Her mother’s name is Yvonne, so Faith +Yvonne birth the stage name FaithVonic.

In 2014, faith came in contact with ActionAid Liberia as an effort to provide Ebola awareness support through a collective music group called LATA. Since then Faith has been partnering with AAL through Activista, Safe Cities Campaign, and has also been a Girls Rights Ambassador for ActionAid on various interventions. As a youth activist, Faith works with young girls across the country empowering them to advocate for their rights, and supporting them around building their self-confidence and self –esteem.

In addition to being a musical artist, Faith is also a budding fashion designer, graphic designer, content creator, and video director expanding her portfolio, versatility, and market reach. Furthermore, Faith has 4 siblings and loves being a sister and role model to them.

 Faith’s goal is to see more Liberian young women with the confidence to utilize music, art, and creative activism to express themselves and advocate for their rights.

“The love I have for music is one of the best way I can express my feelings and also inspire others”

FaithVonic, 22

She believes through her music the world gets to see her Country Liberia and the beauty of it from all angles. With 60% of Liberia’s population being under 35, and the increased impact of COVID-19 on young people and especially young women, Faith knew she needed to utilize her talents to support awareness initiatives, even in her own way – utilizing creative activism. Faith also knew the country is at a pivotal moment, and hadn’t survived the Ebola outbreak, solidarity music was needed to bring the country/region/continent together, highlighting our strength, beauty in our diversity, and hope that we can once again overcome another pandemic even amid challenges. In collaboration with ActionAid Liberia, Faith was able to birth the “Africa Fight” Coronavirus Awareness Song- which will be officially released on all platforms soon.

The Great Chick Corea last words to continue joy of creating

His last words

“I want to thank all of those along my journey who have helped keep the music fires burning bright. It is my hope that those who have an inkling to play, write, perform or otherwise, do so. If not for yourself then for the rest of us. It’s not only that the world needs more artists, it’s also just a lot of fun.” wrote the legendary Chick Corea before his departure on 9 february 2021, due to a rare cancer that abruptly interrupted his genius.

Spanish connection

With the “Concierto de Aranjuez” as his base, the percussion and vocal caress of Brazil and the flamenco guitar of Paco de Lucía as his ally, Chick Corea was one of the great pioneers who knew how to successfully incorporate his Latin heritage into international jazz.

23 Grammys

He has the fourth highest number of Grammy nominations, 65, of which he received 23, as well as four Latin Grammys, three of them in the “instrumental album” category, more than any other artist, specifically for the albums “The Enchantment” (2006), “Forever” (2010) and “Further explorations” (2011).

In addition to these, “The Vigil” (2013) was awarded “Best Latin Jazz Album”, but before arriving there, in the last part of his life, the road he had travelled had been prolific and extensive when it came to gathering his family heritage and projecting it to the world.

A personal side…

Born Armando Anthony Corea (Chelsea/USA, 1941) into a family of Italian descent, he learned the fundamentals of the genre as the son of a trumpeter named Armando J. Corea and took his first professional steps alongside figures such as Dizzie Gillespie and Miles Davis. One of his drive was since the 70ies the “Joy of Creating“, an article written by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion, which Corea embraced since the 70s after reading the book Dianetics. In fact he directed and participated what was announced as the “Stay Well Concert“, organized and broadcasted at the Scientology Network, where he wanted to transmit a sense of positivity in times of COVID-19.

From Miles Davis to Flamenco

Back to his historic and background, the influence of Miles Davis’ “Sketches of Spain” must have been strongly engraved in his ear, since twelve years after the release of that emblematic album, he also took Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” as a musical idea around which to orbit to create a historical piece, “Spain”.

He had previously released the no less referential “Return To Forever” (1972) with the group of the same name, which included another emblematic song of his production, “La fiesta”, with which he had opened the way to an encounter with flamenco.

He continued to investigate in the same direction, both on the band’s next album, “Light As A Feather” (1973), which included the aforementioned “Spain”, and on “My Spanish Heart” (1976), a very personal project that once again combined Hispanic tradition and electronic modernity.

Warm and wild at the same time

Warm and wild at the same time, between soft “pianissimos” and abrupt tempo changes, it contained pieces like the ambitious suites “Spanish Fantasy” and “El Bozo” or the amusing “Armando’s Rhumba”, with his hand-clapping in the background.

Some of these themes became anthological pieces of his production and it was not unusual to see him reinterpret them hand in hand with other icons, as was the case with Herbie Hancock in the albums they released together at the end of that decade.

As for the influence of flamenco in her music, this was even more evident in “Touchstone” (1982), in which she had the guest guitar of Paco de Lucía in the middle of a repertoire full of songs with Spanish names, see “Duende“.

Compadres

Among a large list of collaborators from the Latin music scene, such as Carles Benavent, Don Alias and Álex Acuña, that album also allowed her to return with some of her former colleagues from Return To Forever, such as Stanley Clarke, to produce the song “Compadres“.

He never strayed completely from the path he himself had set out and it was not unusual to see him return to it, as with the aforementioned “The Vigil” (2013), or when he released another of his most acclaimed albums, “Corea.Concerto: Spain For Sextet & Orchestra / Piano Concerto No. 1” (1999), which featured Avishai Ochen and once again turned his gaze to “Spain”, considered by many to be the best composition of his career.

You can watch the 1 hour video documentary “Chick Corea: In the mind of the Master” here, where he presents his latest album Antidote.